


Extras

by Rugsrat



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Eventual Romance, F/F, Slice of Life, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rugsrat/pseuds/Rugsrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bolin is an aspiring actor, of course, and accidentally signs his best friend (Korra) up to be an extra in a restaurant scene. She's paired up with Asami Sato. Can they survive bad set food, hours of retakes, and an insane director? Let's hope so!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Act 1, Scene 1 - Enter Korra and Asami

“Korra! Please!” The green-eyed man was absolutely begging the woman in front of him. “I don’t want to go alone to the casting call. You don’t need to actually do anything. You just need to keep me from running away.”

Korra sighed, and crossed her arms, one hand covering the armband wrapped snugly around her bicep, and the other wedged against her side. She huffed, thinking it over. Bolin, the imploring young man sitting across the table from her, was one of her best friends. This could be his big break. And besides, maybe there’d be free food.

“Fine.” She said at last, and picked up her chopsticks, shoveling some noodles into her mouth before they could get cold. “I’ll go with you, since Mako’s busy.”

Bolin almost launched himself across the kitchen table in his efforts to hug her, before deciding to just stand up and go around. Korra could feel her ribs being crushed slightly by the force of his embrace as he wailed his thanks. He never did know his own strength, she thought. 

“Ok, ok.” she said, and feebly patted his back, such as she could reach. “Ok.” This last was much more forceful, with the last of her breath. Bolin let her go finally, green eyes glistening with unshed tears of joy. She joking pushed him back and pointed with her chopsticks, “Now finish your food. You’re a growing boy, as you often say.”

He grinned and picked up his own set of chopsticks from where they had fallen askew on the table, and started devouring his own food with renewed gusto.   
____

The casting itself had gone well. Bolin had snagged the role of a minor supporting character. With lines and everything. Korra had had to fend him off to prevent more ribs from being bruised by his embrace. But they also apparently needed several extras for a restaurant scene, and Bolin had apparently written her name down on the list.

“I thought ‘Extras’ meant, you know, the extra people you bring to support you, so they know not to call you by accident.” He had explained. 

Korra had buried her face in her palm at that, but it was at least a paying gig. All she had to do was sit in a chair for hours and pretend to talk to whoever else was there. No big deal, a few extra bucks, some free food, and then she was in the clear, and apparently, in a movie.   
____

So several months later she arrived at the restaurant where shooting was to take place, in her very favorite denim jeans and black tank top. After being shuttled around from set directors to hair and makeup and then back to the set director, she was finally sitting in her chair, waiting for her forced conversational partner for the day. 

Looking around at the other extras gathered around with her, she started taking stock of the kinds of people. A lot of these people were obviously pros at being extras, and were talking animatedly about past film experiences, and the like. Their occasional laughter helped calm the uncomfortable lump in her stomach. Nerves were not something she was accustomed to, but the idea that she was going to be on film forever, even in the background, was starting to get to her. What if she was making weird faces? Or suddenly sneezed mid-scene and ruined everything? Or somehow upstaged the actors and got yelled at and told to leave? Or…

“Hi.”

The sudden voice snapped Korra back to reality, and she looked up to see long black hair framing the most stunning face she had ever seen. Was she the star of the movie?

“Hah! Thank you, but I’m just an extra.” 

Oh Spirits, she had said that out loud. Today was going to be one of those days, apparently.

Korra blinked and turned away, a sudden flush coming to her cheeks, turning them an even darker shade of brown. She finally managed to look again at the person sitting down across the table from her, and accomplished not voicing her thoughts out loud this time. Her face was lean, elegant, and her eyes were probably the most excellent shade of green she had even seen. How someone had greener eyes than Bolin (who previously held that title until this moment), Korra wasn’t sure, but that was alright.

Her gaze drifted to the hand being extended towards her to shake, and Korra took it firmly in her own, her few lessons in first impressions from her father coming back to her. Firm handshake. Not painful, but enough to show you respect them, and mean business.

“I’m Korra,” She finally managed, and smiled slightly, “I guess we’re stuck with each other for today?” Her scene-partner’s hand was rougher than Korra had anticipated. Apparently she worked with her hands.

“It seems so, I’m Asami.” The woman across from her smiled back and took her hand back by this point. A few moments later, the set director, on Zhu-Li Moon arrived, and gave a brief description of things that needed to happen during the scene:

“Ok, this is a romantic scene, so nothing super over the top, casual conversation wallah. No breakup arguments!” A titter of laughter passed through the crowd. “Ok, and when Ginger gets to her line ‘No one is more important to me,’ … Table 4B, Korra, I’d like you to go to the counter to get your meal. The blocking is marked in red, take a look at it before we start shooting.”

Blocking? Oh Spirits, she had no idea what to do. Her eyes must have told the tale, because at that moment Asami smiled at her, like she was sharing a secret. Zhu-Li was explaining other queues and blocking to the rest of the assembled folks, who nodded or gave a thumbs-up.

“Just walk over and stand on the tape, get whatever they hand you, and walk back. It’ll be fine.” she offered, and Korra nodded, eyes still a bit wide.

She quickly checked where the red tape was attached to the floor. There was also a dotted line of red she was supposed to follow. Oh, good. Her path had been laid out. Ok. She could do this. No problem.

She was close enough to the table that she could clearly hear the conversation happening at Ginger’s table, so hearing the line would be easy. She just needed to make sure she didn’t miss it. But there was one other thing…

“Hey, Asami… This is going to sound like a really silly question.” She hoped Asami was experienced enough at being an extra to know the answer.

“Ok. I promise not to laugh.” 

“What is wallah?”

Asami repressed a small giggle, and brought one elegant hand to her lips. 

“Hey!”

“Sorry. It does sound silly, but that’s just the word.” She collected herself, and with a precision borne from obvious knowledge, she explained: “Wallah is fake conversation, gibberish. Usually things like ‘Raddish _raddish_ **raddish** ’” She said, placing a different emphasis each time she said the word. “It all blends together in crowd sets like this, so that nothing overshadows the lines being spoken.”

Korra nodded, face contorting into a serious expression. She was about to respond, when Zhu-Li shouted for everyone to be quiet on the set. Apparently they were going to start filming. The knot was starting to form in Korra’s stomach again. 

By the time the lights were checked, the makeup re-touched, and the cameras rolled, the knot was absolutely Gordian in nature, unable to be removed except by slicing through with a sword. Or so it seemed. She could feel sweat starting to collect on the nape of her neck, and her whole body was tense.

But then Varrick yelled “Action!”.

And Asami flashed Korra a warm smile, and started to speak.

“Raddish _raddish_ , raddishraddish **raddish**?”

And suddenly that tension was gone. Because that was probably the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. She chuckled, and her shoulders shook, the muscles relaxing.

“ **Raddish** raddish. Raddish.” She moved her arms dismissively. Apparently, in her mind, whatever question Asami had just asked her had a ridiculously obvious answer.

They went back and forth for a few more seconds, gibberish questions followed by gibberish answers, but the flow was established now.

“No one is more important to me.” Ginger said, and Korra almost groaned aloud with how corny the line sounded.

“Raddish raddish.” Korra said, Excuse me, the food’s ready, the obvious implication, before standing up and walking over to the counter. She was handed a plate with some fries and a burger, and walked back to her seat, taking care to follow the red line, in fact, so intent on following the line that she stared at the red tape all the way back.

“Raddish.” Asami said, and as Korra set the plate down, Asami picked up one of the fries, and popped it in her mouth.

“Cut!” Varrick shouted. “Ginger, you’re colder than an elephant seal in January! Come on! Let’s do this again.”

“You should bring the plate back.” Asami said, leaning back in her chair, and checking her phone for a moment before returning it to her purse. “Otherwise they’ll just start to pile up.”

“Oh, yeah. Good call.” Korra swiftly returned the plate to the counter, and then slid back into her seat. This wasn’t so bad. Lights were re-checked, make-up re-retouched, and cameras rolled.

Varrick yelled for Action again, and once again, Asami quickly lead them off in conversation.

“So, what made you sign up for this scene?”

Raddish? She was supposed to say raddish. Was this a test?

“Raddish.”

Asami shook her head slightly, an amused, tight-lipped smile on her lips, and she leaned forward. 

“Seriously, what made you sign up for this scene?”

“No one is more important to me.” The line came up suddenly, and Korra flinched.

“I guess the food is done.” Korra said, and stood up to retrieve her lunch.

This time, when she returned, she popped a fry into her own mouth to give them a shot, and immediately regretted that decision. Asami had made no such indication that these were terrible. That was just unfair. Apparently the look on her face said as much.

“I probably should have warned you about that... “ the raven-haired woman said, and flipped her hair over her shoulder with a deft turn on her head. “But tell me, what made you want to get on set?”

Korra grimaced, and picked up another horrible fry, gesturing with it like a pointer. “My buddy Bolin went to audition for this movie, but didn’t want to go alone, so I was moral support. He accidentally signed me up for this because his reading comprehension level is, I guess, really low.”

“CUT!” Varrick yelled again, “Alright Romeo, seriously, you’re supposed to be looking at her tenderly, not like she’s your estranged cousin with four heads and a pet Sabertooth Moose-Lion! Again!”

Korra sighed and brought the cold, grainy, in general disgusting plate of food back to the counter.

“So how about you?” Korra asked when the scene started up again.

“I like being around movie sets.” Asami replied, but Korra felt like that was only half of an answer. But she kept her thoughts to herself, and dutifully went and retrieved her plate from the counter at the correct time. 

The scene repeated several times, and with each, Varrick grew more and more impatient, it seemed. Sometimes they didn’t even get to Korra’s queue before re-starting.

“Alright, let’s break for lunch. One hour!” He cried, and the buzzer sounded. 

A wave of relief passed over the crowd, and Korra stood from her chair. Asami followed suit. The Water Tribe girl realized at that moment that while she was certainly not short, her table-partner was absolutely statuesque, and towered over her. Wow.

“So, lunch?” Asami asked, “We can at least wash out the taste of those awful fries.”

“I’ll follow you, since I don’t even know where the catering table is.” Korra looked around, making a show of being lost.

“Of course, my young apprentice, we’ll turn you into an expert extra in no time.” Asami laughed, and waved a hand vaguely in the direction away from hair and makeup, “It’s usually right over here.”  
___

The line was long, but at last, Korra had filled up her plate: two hot dogs, a cheeseburger, a bottle of water, and some salad. She noted that Asami seemed to favor the burgers to the hot dogs, and had what appeared to be a surprising appetite, going for the fries rather than the salad.

“Huh.” 

“What?” Asami asked when they found a seat.

“Nothing, you just struck me as a salad kinda girl.” Korra said, shrugging as she devoured one of the hot dogs in front of her.

“Oh. Well, I do like salad sometimes, but honestly, a good cheeseburger is my biggest weakness.”

“Yeah? Where do you usually get your burgers from?” She sounded the words out around the bite of hot-dog in her mouth, making it sound muffled and slurred, but Asami apparently understood.

“There’s a food truck that hangs out near my day job that I usually get. They make the best burger I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot.”

“Cool. Where do you work, if you don’t mind me asking?” 

Asami shrugged, but Korra could see a slight amount of tension in her shoulders, like she was afraid of answering for some reason.

“I’m an engineer at Future Industries.”

Well, that probably helped explain the rough hands then, probably had to get her hands dirty fitting all those cars together. Korra wasn’t quite sure what the issue was, Future Industries was a huge company, and probably employed more people than any other place in the city.

“Cool. My friend Mako used to work as a welder at their factory, but he never mentioned an amazing burger truck. I may have to swing by some time and see for myself.” 

Asami’s shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

“The truck only started staying there about a year ago, so if he doesn’t work there anymore, he might have missed it, but you definitely should. I’ve had to really buckle down at the gym to make up for these burgers. But it’s so worth it.”  
___

The buzzer signifying the end of lunch rang sooner than Korra had expected it to, but when she checked her phone, it did seem like a full hour had passed, so apparently she had just lost track of time. They settled back down into their seats, and the shooting began again. This time with the cameras in a different setup.

“Cross coverage.” Asami offered as explanation, “To get the other side of the conversation.”

“Oh, cool.”

They continued chatting over the table, with Korra getting up like clockwork to go get that same plate of burger and fries.  
___

“Ok, favorite movie as a kid.” Korra asked, gesturing with a french fry.

“Love Amongst the Dragons”

“Seriously?”

“My mom loved it. She showed it to me when I was five. I’m pretty sure I can still recite it from memory, I watched it so many times.”

“Twenty Yuans says you can’t.”

“You’re on.”  
___

“And lo, the commandments did these becomes passed down, and so above all, the love of dragons be maintained.” Asami finished with a small bow of her head, smiling widely.

“Ok. You win. I honestly haven’t met anyone that could recite the whole movie.” Korra said, checking the screen of her phone for accuracy.

“Pay up.” Asami said, and wagged her outstretched hand in front of her. Korra begrudgingly grabbed her wallet and slapped a twenty Yuan note into her palm.

“How long do these shooting days even go?” Korra asked, checking the time quickly before putting her phone away. “I still gotta hit the gym at some point tonight.”

“We should be wrapping up soon, I think.” Asami looked at her own phone for a moment, “The lighting guys will probably walk off before Varrick wraps for today.”

“Can they do that?”

“They’re union.” Asami as though that answered all of the possible questions Korra could have.

“Cut!” Varrick yelled, and looked over angrilly at Korra and Asami’s table. “4B, you missed your queue!”

Both women gaped at each other. Had they? Oh no. Her nightmare was coming true. She was going to get kicked off set.

“Varrick, I’m sorry about that. Why don’t we wrap for tonight anyway. It’s getting late.” Asami smiled at him warmly while she said that, but Korra just stared at her. Was she… talking back to the director? Oh man, they were going to be in deep.

Varrick looked taken aback, and then checked the time himself.

“Oh man! Asami, you’re so right. I’m late for my thing.” He turned sharply, “Zhu-Li! Get the car. We need to go.” he turned back around, and stood up on a podium, “Alright, we’ll start shooting again at nine AM! So that means all extras… Be here at seven, and bring the same clothes from today. And Ginger, Romeo, I’ll need you two at six.”

The buzzer rang for the end of the day. Korra didn’t get up though, she just was in shock over what had just happened. She wasn’t in trouble. Varrick knew Asami by name. Asami was checking her face in a compact mirror like nothing had just happened. What _had_ just happened?

“So… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Asami asked, extending her hand to Korra again.

“Oh… sure!” Korra shook her hand again, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” And Asami walked away, flipping her hair again for good measure. For most people, the gesture would have been condescending, rude. But to Korra’s eyes, it seemed to just be to get her hair over her shoulder, and spirits knew, she had enough hair to make learning a move like that worthwhile. Korra tugged at her own wolftails. Today had just been so weird… and long.

She yawned. Yeah, it had been a long day. And she _did_ still need to hit the gym. So Korra levered herself up, and started the walk home.


	2. Act 1, Scene 2 - Asami Sato

Five AM arrived more loudly than Korra would have liked, the way it did every morning. The alarm clock tone bored into her with a relentless lack of care for her wanting just five more minutes. She groaned and rolled over into the pillow, and swatted at the beastly device once… twice… ok, three times, and finally the beeping stopped. Now sure that she was safe from its noise, she turned her head and cracked one eye open.

After a deep breath, Korra slipped out of her bed, and hissed as her bare feet, still warm from being under the covers, made contact with the comparatively frigid floor. The dim light coming from the curtained window told her that it was still dark out, with sunrise still a few minutes away. Perfect. Korra hummed a simple turn to herself, and started rooting around for clothes to wear. One day she’d get around to organizing this dresser. But she finally found a pair of matching socks that didn’t have holes in them, and almost whooped for joy at the discovery, but then remembered the everyone else would still be sleeping at this hour. The rest of her morning workout outfit followed in short order.

She stepped out of her bedroom, and a large white hulking beast of a dog greeted her from where she had been sleeping in the living room.

“Morning girl, ready to run?”

The dog immediately went to the door and grabbed her leash from the basket beside it while Korra grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. She grabbed her keys, her phone, and then hooked the leash to the dog’s collar.

“Alright Naga, let’s go!”  
____

A half hour later, Korra and Naga returned to the house, and by this time, the sun was up, and it promised to be a lovely day. She kicked her shoe off inside the main entrance, putting them in the organized chaos that was the pile of other shoes there. Naga’s leash was returned to the basket.

Korra smiled as she entered the kitchen, she could smell the green tea before she made it into the room. An older, bald man was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the morning paper like he was straight out of the fifties, and he looked up briefly as Korra came into the room.

“Good morning, Korra.” He said, and pushed a second cup of tea she hadn’t noticed before in her direction. 

“Morning, Tenzin!” Korra said, and refilled the water bottle, setting it back in the refrigerator for the next day, and then re-filling Naga’s food and water bowls as well. The dog ate and drank happily. “You’re up early for a Sunday.”

“Yes, well, I’m needed at the temple to run the food kitchen this morning.” He returned to his paper as Korra sat down.

She sipped the tea before responding. Tenzin knew the best way to brew tea. She wasn’t sure how he did it. But he did. 

“Oh. Awesome. If I get done early, I’ll swing by and help out.”

“What are you up to today?” Tenzin asked her, peering over the top of his paper, an eyebrow quirked.

“They’re still filming that movie scene that I’m in. So I need to get in the shower and get going. I apparently have to be there at seven.”

“Better get to that quickly them. It’s a long walk to Narook’s from here”

“Yeah, I know.” Korra said, and quickly finished her drink. “Thanks for the tea.”  
____

She arrived at the restaurant right on time, fortunately. It felt strange, being in the same clothes as the day before, but those were the instructions given.

Once again she was shuttled around to the set director, Zhu-Li, who again told her to find hair and makeup. They tutted at her about coming to them with damp hair, but after a few passes with the hottest blow dryer Korra had ever felt, it was to an acceptable level, apparently. Once again they covered her face in makeup that would make her skin less shiny for the camera, being so close to the main actors meant that she’d _definitely_ be on screen at some point, apparently. 

The knot of tension in her gut was growing again, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as the previous day had been. This time it was more like the knot one would get in their headphone cord after they’ve been put in a pocket. Small, annoying, but manageable.

It was early yet, and so Korra grabbed some fruit from the catering table, now that she knew where it was. This was already so much better than the day before. She returned to the set with her prize, and after replying to a few anxious text messages from Bolin and Mako (Yes, she was back on set. Yes, she’d be at work the next day. No, she was not suddenly the lead in the movie.)

She was just setting up music to listen to for the interim when she noticed someone sit down in the chair across from her. Korra lifted her head up, and saw Asami fussing with something in her purse. 

“Good morning!” Korra said, and then promptly took a large bite of the apple she had been eating between text messages.

“Hi, Korra.” Asami said, clearly distracted by whatever it was she was looking for.

“Need a hand?”

“No, just looking for… ah ha!” She pulled out a folder from the bag, and Korra could see just enough that the large purse was actually packed full of folders, books, and notepads.

“Studying for a test?” Korra asked around a bite of apple, and took a drink of water to wash it down with.

“No, I wish. I have to get this presentation done for tomorrow, it’s almost done, I just need to recheck the math one more time.” She set the folder on the table, and when she opened it up, Korra could see several pages of mathematical equations, and diagrams of cars engines. Or at least, it _looked_ like car engines. 

“Is this for a lunar lander or something?”

“Not this year.” Asami said, and Korra wasn’t sure if the blase tone was a joke or if Asami was being serious, and Asami wasn’t offering any helpful facial expressions either. Instead, she was already pretty much buried in her work, tapping the page with a pencil. Whatever this was for was obviously important.

Korra sighed and settled down in her seat, plugging her headphones in her ears. Interrupting seemed like a bad idea, given how furiously Asami was going over the numbers. She tried to follow along, but most of them looked like high level physics problems, and physics had never been Korra’s best topic. Sciences in general were not Korra’s best topic.

But something caught her eye as Asami turned the page. 

“That’s wrong.” Korra said, pointing to a spot on the paper where the diagram had been labeling parts of an engine. The part had been labelled incorrectly, but Asami had skipped over it. “That’s the serpentine belt, not the timing belt.”

Asami looked up at her, like she hadn’t quite heard her. Then back at the paper.

“Wow. How did I miss that?” She wondered aloud. 

“Probably because you’ve been staring at it too long.” Korra offered a helpful smile. “Don’t ask me to name anything else though, I only know because I was there when Mako’s serpentine belt snapped, and they sold him a timing belt instead. I’ve never seen him so angry when he realized what happened.”

Asami crossed off the label and wrote in the correct word in pencil. Then she shut the folder and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. In that moment, she looked incredibly tired, and Korra noticed that there were some dark circles under her eyes that had been expertly covered with makeup.

“You want a coffee or anything? I can run to the catering table.”

Asami nodded once, and let out a deep breath.

“That would be amazing, please. Just black is fine. Definitely caffeinated though.”

“You got it.”

When Korra returned, a cup of black coffee in hand, she quickly snuck behind the service counter, and found one of the restaurant’s mugs. She dumped the coffee in there, tossing out the ugly styrofoam cup the beverage had originally come in, smiling at how clever she was. Korra managed to sit back down without getting yelled at, and with a small flourish, presented her prize to Asami.

Asami smiled gracefully, and immediately took a long drink of the black beverage. 

“Oh thank the Spirits. I needed this.” She looked Korra in the eye, and Korra nearly flushed under the intensity of that green stare. “Thank you _so_ much.”

“Hey, no problem. That’s what friends do.” Korra shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, as though suddenly declaring their friendship was the most natural thing in the world. Asami busied herself with taking another drink of the coffee, and opened the folder again.  
____

The megaphone Zhu-Li had was set to a higher volume than it had been the day before when they had been assembled, and it rang in Korra’s ears. But the instructions from yesterday remained the same.

During a final check of the set, Varrick walked through all of the tables. There were people that had apparently brought books or MP3 players today, and those were immediately told to be put away.

“Did you have this yesterday? No? Well, guess what kid: it’s still yesterday in here. So put it away.”

Korra’s knot of unease was growing again by the time Varrick swung by their table, but he only glanced at the folder and patted Asami on the shoulder.

“You’re missing a decimal on page three.” He said softly, grinning from ear to ear, and was on his way. Asami checked the page, and added the decimal she had been missing. Korra was once again very confused. Everyone else had needed to put their ‘Continuity Errors’ away. But not Asami. She clearly _knew_ Varrick. What the hell was going on?

“He and my dad are friends.” Asami offered once he had walked away. But again, to Korra’s ears, that sounded like a half-answer. She nodded, but didn’t really say anything back.

Finally, the cameras were set up to roll.

Ginger was looking at the male lead, Romeo (Korra wasn’t super caught up on movies, but that sounded like a nickname. She just couldn’t remember what his _actual_ name was.) was clutching her hands and looking fairly desperate. 

“Please, you can’t leave me. I need to know the answer.” He pleaded, and Korra, from the corner of her eye while she made idle conversation with Asami, was entirely unconvinced that he cared at all. But she did not have a copy of the script. Maybe that was the point?

“No one is more important to me.” Ginger responded, and Korra dutifully got up, followed her path, received her plate, it looked like the same burger and fries from the day before, and sat back down.

The scene continued. The leads looking at each other and almost ending up crying into their food by the end. Then Romeo got up to leave. 

“Cut!” Varrick cried, almost in tears himself. “Great job Romeo! You really had me going there. Let’s get a couple more takes, and then film Ginger’s coverage.”

The cameras reset, the makeup retouched, and they began again.

And again.

And again.  
____

“Alright, favorite color.” Asami asked, finally setting the folder aside as Korra returned with her prop.

“Blue.” Korra replied, sitting down. Finally, something that wasn’t, “I hate presentations.” This could actually go somewhere, maybe? “Especially glacier blue.”

“Glacier Blue?” Asami asked, finishing the coffee.

“Yeah. Only the tops of glaciers are white. When the ice gets dense enough, it kinda turns blue. It’s a really cool color.”

“I bet.” Asami said, quirking her eyebrow at Korra. Korra wasn’t sure why Asami was looking so smug… oh.

“Pun not intended.” She added quickly. “How about you?”

“No one is more important to me.” Ginger interrupted from her table.

She got up, got the burger, and came back.

“Red.” Asami said when Korra sat back down. “Preferably dark red.”

Korra nodded in agreement, the color was the obvious choice. Red lipstick, the color of blood, red nails, a similar shade, and the red necklace that settled against the hollow of her throat were all pretty clear indicators.

“Never would have guessed.” She said, sarcasm dripping from her voice, and picked up a fry, hoping that Varrick would call an end to this round before she felt obligated to eat it.

“Cut!” Varrick shouted, after a particularly bad take of Ginger doing an over-the-top swoon that would have been right at home in a silent movie, but even Korra knew had no place here. “Lunch. One Hour!”

The buzzer sounded. And Asami stood up, already reaching for her phone, heading towards the door to the restaurant and going outside.

Korra followed, walking towards the catering table, intent on getting some more burgers and dogs that were not a day old at this point. She was stopped by a hand grabbing her sleeve. 

“Hang on.” Asami told the person on the phone, and then turned to Korra, pressing the phone to her chest, “How many burgers do you usually eat?”

“On a day like this? Two, probably.” Korra replied, and pointed with a thumb to the catering table. “I was just going to get some from the catering table.” 

“Can you wait fifteen minutes?” Asami asked, looking so earnest that Korra couldn’t help but nod. “Great!”

Asami turned back to her phone, and rattled off a quick order. Six burgers, condiments on the side, pickles, fries… holy Spirits that was a lot a food for two people. She let go of Korra’s sleeve and Korra thrust her hands into the pockets of her jeans, tapping her foot softly in an inconsistent rhythm.

Almost exactly fifteen minutes later, a car arrived, and a young man stepped out, holding a large paper bag that was almost full to bursting. He smiled when he saw Asami, and handed it to her.

“Thank you, Lee.” She said, and handed him a few bills, “Sorry for giving you such short notice.”

“No problem Miss. I was actually grabbing lunch for myself anyway, so it was no trouble.”

“Make sure you write the gas off as a company expense please.”

Korra blinked again. First she got Varrick to back down yesterday from letting the shoot go long. Then she had someone _deliver_ food. Who was Asami, exactly? 

The young man, Lee, drove off at that point. Asami turned to Korra, holding the greasy paper bag like a trophy, “Let’s find a table.”

And the moment that Korra dug into her cheeseburger, all bets were off. She wasn’t sure what sort of magic had been infused into this meal, but it was absolutely divine. She closed her eyes, and smiled widely, chewing slowly to savor the taste. Across the table from her, Asami laughed at her reaction.

“I did the same thing when I first tried one.” She said, and pushed a styrofoam container of french fries towards Korra. “Try one of these too.”  
____

After lunch, shooting resumed. Varrick seemed to be happier now at least.

Korra and Asami, for their part, were keeping up a string of conversation:

“So Tenzin helps run the Buddhist temple?”

“Yeah, he does.” She says, “I think he was training to be priest at one point. But now he runs their community involvement programs.” She pushed the stale fries from the set around on the plate in front of her thoughtfully, “His daughter, Jinora, is probably going to follow in his footsteps.”

“I see.” Asami said, and flipped another page in the folder she had been proofreading all day. “That seems pretty interesting actually.”

“Yeah, they’re interesting people.” She shrugged. All day and she had no idea how to get Asami to open up about herself. It had been all about Korra. Which was fine, she supposed, but it was kind of strange.  
____

“So who’s that ‘Lee’ guy that brought us lunch?”

“He’s my intern.” Asami offered.

“ _Your_ intern?” Korra said, leaning forward. “Like, you’re his boss?”

“Something like that. He’s earning his Master’s degree, and is part of the internship program at Future Industries. He’s quite good.”

“Then why not have him proof-read this folder?” Korra quirked an eyebrow. If Asami had just had the intern do it, then they could have been having a real conversation where more than one sentence was offered at a time.

“He is.” Asami looked up, and straightened her back from how she had been slightly slouched forward. “We’ll be comparing our edits tomorrow before the presentation, and hopefully he catches something I don’t.”

Oh. Ok. That was actually a smart idea.

“No one is more important to me.”

Korra got up and retrieved the plate.  
____

Finally shooting ended. Finally. It was nearing dark. Korra wouldn’t be able to help out Tenzin after all. Hopefully he wouldn’t hold that against her. She assembled with the rest of the extras and once more Zhu-Li had her volume set a little high on the megaphone.

“Alright. Thanks for coming everyone. Thank you for being so patient with us. If you’re available for re-shoots or want to be in other scenes, sign up on your way out. Other than that, thanks for coming. Any checks will be in the mail.”

Oh. That was it? She looked over at Asami, who was still sitting over at the restaurant table, going over her notes.

“Hey, Asami.” Korra said, and she shrugged when Asami looked up at her, but held out her hand again to shake, “Guess we’re free to go, it was nice talking to you.”

“Yes it was.” Asami said, and shook Korra’s hand firmly. “I hope Tenzin won’t be overly upset that you missed volunteering today.”

“Nah, I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Oh man, this was awkward. 

“Here,” Asami said, and handed over a business card to Korra. “It was awesome to meet you, keep in touch.”

Korra shoved the card and her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

“Sure thing!”

“Great. Well, I need to get going then. I’ll hopefully see you around.”

“Definitely. Good luck on your presentation tomorrow.”

“Thanks!”  
____

Korra was midway through her walk home when she finally decided to check the card Asami handed her. It was nice card stock, and the Future Industries logo was printed in the corner. Very classy. 

_Asami Sato_  
Chief Operations Officer  
Engineering

Oh. Well that explained a lot.

The backside of the card had a phone number written on the back in neat handwriting.

Korra stopped walking.

“Now what?” She wondered out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still sorry for not having a beta-reader. I wish I had Lee.  
> Now edited! Because several things were really bothering me.


	3. Act 1, Scene 3 - Profession

Mondays were almost as evil as five AM. So five AM on a monday was the worst thing Korra could imagine that the world had devised. After her run with Naga she returned to Tenzin’s home. She had abbreviated her route this morning, just enough to get her heart beating faster to get her day going.

Korra smiled faintly as she headed into the kitchen, where Tenzin’s wife, Pema, was preparing breakfast. 

“Good morning, Korra.” Pema was at that time concentrating while pouring batter for pancakes onto a griddle. The whole kitchen smelled of cinnamon and vanilla, and Korra breathed deeply with appreciation, her stomach growling audibly.

“Good morning, Pema.” She said, and sidled up near the older woman, eyeing the plate of already finished food stacked high. “That smells so good.”

“Well, if you want to get out the syrup and set the table, then this should be ready.”

Korra flashed a thumbs up and got to work. In only a few minutes plates, glasses, forks, and syrup all found their way onto the table. She returned to the kitchen and Pema was just turning off the griddle.

“Alright. You better call in the herd.”

“You got it.”

The patriarch of the family and his three eldest children were meditating in the backyard, legs crossed, backs straight, fists pressed together. Although, she was fairly certain that the youngest, Meelo, was actually asleep. Not that she blamed him.

“Hey guys, breakfast is ready.” She said, and four sets of eyes opened to look at her.

“Korra!” Ikki, the middle child jumped up from her spot and launched herself into a hug like she hadn’t seen Korra in years. The force of it nearly knocked the breath from Korra’s lungs. 

“Good morning Ikki.” Korra breathlessly replied, pushing down some on the girl’s arms to relieve pressure from her diaphragm. “Come on, pancakes are getting cold.”

The mention of pancakes sent the three children running for the house, with Tenzin and Korra left behind. 

“How was meditation?” Korra asked, rubbing her sides to help soothe some of the soreness from being squeezed. 

“Very productive this morning.” Tenzin replied, a soft smile playing on his face. Korra noted that he looked decidedly more relaxed after meditation than any other time. “Meelo stayed awake for almost fifteen minutes, and Ikki didn’t try to sneak off.”

“And Jinora?”

“As usual, Jinora shows excellent aptitude for meditation and other spiritual matters.”

Korra had to stifle a giggle as her host’s chest puffed slightly with pride.

The pair entered the dining room, and quickly settled into their seats. Once the short blessing had been offered, all parties dug in with gusto. The resulting pancake massacre would surely be talked about for generations.

After the children cleared the evidence of the resulting carnage from the table, placing dishes and glasses in the sink to be washed after school, they sat outside waiting for the bus that would bring them to school, throwing sticks and a rope toy for Naga to bring back to them.

“Alright kids, make sure Naga doesn’t chase after the bus again like she did last week.”

The children all chimed in at once that of course they would never let such a thing happen again, and that the two times before had simply been accidents. Naturally. Korra shook her head and rolled her eyes as she put on her own shoes and left the house, backpack slung over her shoulder. It was time to go to work.  
____

“Alright, so you have to tell me how the shooting went this weekend. My scene is next week and I want to know what I’m in for.” Bolin pleaded with her as he turned down a side street. “Is Varrick as nuts as everyone says?”

She nodded at him, and looked out the window of their ambulance briefly. “Yeah, I’m fairly certain he’s insane.” She said, and smiled, turning back towards her friend. “But it was fun actually. It was essentially like… choreographed hanging out for two days.”

“Yeah? Who were you hanging out with?”

“Car!” Korra shouted, and Bolin slammed on the breaks as a speeding car sped across the intersection. She sighed. That would probably be on their radio later when the driver wrapped themselves around a tree.

She hesitated, did she tell Bolin the thing about the business card? She doubted he would care, but she didn’t want to be one of those people that started spreading celebrity gossip either. Her dad got enough of that back home.

“Her name’s Asami. She’s an engineer at Future Industries.”

“Sounds like a good gig. Did she tell you about any cool stuff they’re working on?”

“Why so you can sell it to Cabbage Corp?” Korra said, and reached across the space between them to affectionately punch Bolin in the shoulder. “I asked her if they were working on a lunar lander, and she said ‘Not this year.’”

“Ooooooh… So maybe next year!”

Korra hit him again.

“No, seriously, that would be so cool. Korra, you should totally sign up to be an astronaut!”

“You have to be in the air force to be an astronaut.” She said, looking back out the window.

Bolin took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at her, his smile spreading over his whole face.

“You were in the airforce. I’m sure they’d let you…”

“Drop it, Bolin.”

“Dropped.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes, Korra doing everything in her power to not think about her time in the military, and Bolin reaching for, and then not turning on the radio several times. Finally Korra grunted and did it for him. The music came on, some rock station that was currently playing songs older than either of them. 

“So… My scene is with Ginger’s Character. How was she on set?”

“Oh man, she was… not good.”

“Like, mean not-good, or what?”

“No, she wasn’t mean, at least not to Varrick or her co-star, but I think she was transplanted straight out of the twenties. I’ve never seen so much ham in my life.”

“Oh. Good to know.” 

“Yeah, I think you’re going to spend most of your takes just hoping she doesn’t decide this is the swooning take.”

“Actually…”

“Is there swooning in your script?”

“Well…”

“There is totally swooning in your script, isn’t there!”

Korra laughed, the sound coming out in loud, rough bursts, and soon the two were both in it together, cracking each other up with new observations and predictions about the movie to come.

They were both wiping tears from their eyes when their radio crackled, a minor accident not far from where they were now, one person injured.

“Lights on, sirens up.” Korra said, flipping two switches on the ceiling of their ambulance. Bolin hit the gas and the sea of cars parted.

“That’s the way we like to truck.”

“Really? _Really_?”

“What?”  
____

They arrived at the scene only a few minutes later. Sure enough, it was the car from earlier that had cut them off. The car had hit another car in the middle of an intersection. The driver was already being talked to by police, while two other officers had the driver of the other car still sitting in the driver’s seat. No smoke from either car. Good. Korra could already see blood from where she was.

She had her gloves on before she left the ambulance, and was making her way towards the victim while Bolin headed towards the other driver. The officers stepped away to make room for her. It was at that moment that Korra got a good look at the victim, who currently had their eyes closed and was leaning back in their seat, some blood coming from a cut on the side of their head, in her hair somewhere. That would be a pain in the ass.

“Hey Cutie, are you awake?” Korra said, snapping immediately into her routine.

Her mouth opened, and Korra could certainly tell that she was doing her best to bite back a groan of pain, but she managed to croak out a yes.

“Awesome.” Korra said, and reached her gloved hand to the woman’s neck, the pulse was strong. “You’re going to be fine, I just need to ask you a couple questions. Can you tell me your name?”

She already knew what the answer was going to be, but head injuries were tricky.

“Ginger.”

“Hi Ginger, I’m Korra.” She next grabbed for the stethoscope around her neck, and quickly put it on. Breathing was clear. “Can you feel your toes?”

“Yes.”

“Can you feel your fingers?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome. You’re doing great.” Korra opened the door to the car and leaned over the actress. She reached to her belt for her flashlight. “Can you open your eyes for me?”

It seemed like that was taking a lot of effort, but finally Ginger managed to crack her eyes open. Korra quickly flashed her light into Ginger’s eyes one at a time, and frowned when one of her pupils didn’t respond quickly. 

“I know that was bright, I’m sorry. You’re doing great. Are you feeling tired or dizzy?”

“Yes, I feel like I want to take a nap.”

“Well, I need you to stay awake for me, ok?”

By this time, Bolin had come over, with a neck brace and a stretcher.

“Ok, we need to move your head to put a neck brace on you, hold still, ok?”

“Ok.”

Korra gave her credit, Ginger was being incredibly well behaved for someone that probably had a concussion. They got her into the ambulance with minimum fuss, and for once, no puke on either of their shoes.

Bolin drove them to the hospital while Korra stayed in the back, keeping up a steady stream of idle conversation. Ginger apparently was an avid collector of rare coins.

Republic City General hospital got Ginger in very quickly. And so the two were soon again left to their own devices once paperwork was figured out.

“So, I think this means that your scene is going to get delayed.” Korra said, trying to make a casual observation.

“Drop it, Korra.”

“Dropped.”  
____

After the gym Korra went home. Bolin was not in the mood to hang out, and Mako was busy with a case study or something. So she lay on her bed, Naga laying next to her.

“What do you think, girl? What should we do?”

The dog huffed and rolled onto her side.

“You’re no help at all.” Korra said, huffing a breath right back at the fluffy white lump.

A few moments of consideration later, Korra grabbed her phone and retrieved the business card from her wallet. Deft button presses and the hand-written information was programmed into the device’s memory.

And then it was time to get the ball rolling:

“Hey, this is Korra from the movie set. How did the presentation go?”

She hit send after typing it out, and waited. But not for overly long. After a minute or so, the reply came back.

“Pretty well. Lee gave me some great information, and the board liked my proposal.”

A second message followed soon after: “Hope your day was good too. :) “

Korra could have almost laughed out loud. Asami Sato. Head of Engineering at Future Industries, heir to the biggest company in the United Republic, and super-model good-looking, had just used a smiley face in a text message to her.

She smiled as she typed a reply. “Today was ok actually. No one died on me at work.”

“Does that happen to you often?”

“Fortunately, no. Because I’m good at my job. :) “

“And humble, I see. But I am honestly glad you had a good day.”

“I am very humble. Super humble. The most humble.” Korra snickered. This was ridiculous.

The next reply came after a several minute delay, and Korra wondered what Asami was up to. Probably something business related. Or maybe she was eating dinner? She glanced at the clock, ten pm. Ok, maybe not dinner.

“One day, I will get people to realize that not every hiccup is an earth shattering catastrophe. One day.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Can it be Saturday now?”

“Do weekends count for COOs?”

Another long delay, “No, not really. But I try to make them when I can.”

Korra shot a glance at her calendar. Saturday she was free. She, Mako, and Bolin were going to see a movie. Some super-hero thing that Korra wasn’t particularly into, but that Bolin especially adored (and though Mako would never admit it, he loved it too).

“You free Saturday? A couple of friends and I were going to a movie. You should come with.”

“You know what? I’d love to. I don’t get to mute my phone often enough.”

“Awesome! I’ll send you the details soon.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s what friends do. Talk to you later! :) “

“Definitely. Good night, Korra.”

Well that went better than expected, Korra thought, as she changed into her pajamas, and re-set her alarm for the devil-time that was five am. She settled down into the bed, and Naga took her place near the foot. Saturday would probably be interesting. Hopefully Bolin and Mako wouldn’t make things weirder than they already were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my beta-reader: Buddha1800 for correcting the multitude of grammar and spelling issues I make.


	4. Act 1, Scene 4 - Episode

“So, Saturday. 3 PM. Corner of Jasmine and Lotus.” Korra sent the text quickly, fingers flying over her screen so that she wouldn’t forget. The reply came quickly, Bolin looking side-eyed at her while she checked her phone.

“Jasmine and Lotus? I didn’t think there was a theater there.”

“Nope. That’s where Mako and Bolin live. I want you to meet them before we see the movie.”

She tucked her phone back in her pocket, and resumed watching the road.

“So, it’s all set, I think.” She said, feeling a little smug. “Asami will meet us at your place, and then we’ll head to the theater together.” She put her feet up on the dashboard of the ambulance.

“Hey! Feet on the floor, I just cleaned that.”

She huffed, but complied. And pulled out her phone again as the reply chimed in her pocket.

“You’ve been basically glued to your phone all week.”

“I have not.”

“You have so. Please tell me you at least have unlimited texting.”

“Yep. Finally managed to convince Tenzin that it was worthwhile. He’s super strict about material possessions, but when I told him that it would help me keep in touch with my mom and dad back home, he let up.”

“So how many of these messages have been to your mom today?”

“That is entirely beside the point.” She said, grinning from ear to ear, and read the message from Asami.

“That’s what I thought.” Bolin said, and playfully pushed her shoulder.

The text from Asami was a confirmation, saying she’d meet them there at three, barring anything crazy happening.

“Hey, once you meet Asami, you’ll understand, she’s not just some prissy, beautiful, elegant, rich girl.”

Bolin’s face split into a grin, but he didn’t say anything.  
____

Saturday came slowly, with lots of double shifts. But fortunately movies with friends was a good way to cap the end of the week. Korra tapped her fingers rhythmically on the windowsill of Bolin and Mako’s apartment, looking down onto the street from where she sat on the bench that ran along the length of the semi-circular window area.

She always loved sitting here, especially on days like this one, when it was warm enough to prop the window open with the worn stick that had been here when the boys moved in, and looked like it had belonged to multiple tenants before them. The view was incredible. While they didn’t exactly live in the best apartment, they were close enough to downtown Republic City that they had a view of the skyline: the Presidential Building, Future Industries Tower, and several other buildings that Korra was sure were important, but that she didn’t know the purpose of.

She also had a lovely view of the parking lot below, and was waiting for Asami to arrive. Korra tapped her fingers on the sill again, and then grinned when she saw what she was sure was a very expensive car pull into one of the visitor spaces. 

“Hey guys, I think she’s here!” Korra called out over her shoulder, and then headed out the door to meet the taller girl downstairs. When she reached the bottom floor and opened the door to the outside, Asami was standing there with her phone in her hand, looking like she was about to dial someone.

“Good timing.” Asami said, “I was just about to call you to let you know I was here.”

“Yeah, well, I saw your car pull in.”

“You’ve never seen my car before.”

Korra rolled her eyes at Asami’s disbelieving tone.

“Fine, I saw a car that I’m pretty sure is worth more than this building pull in, and assumed it was you.” Korra shrugged her shoulders, and Asami flushed and looked away. A few moments of silence later, and Korra finally wondered why they were still standing in the doorway.“Anyway, come on in, Mako and Bolin are upstairs… remember to lock your car.”

Asami fumbled in the pocket of her jacket for a moment and a polite beeping sound came from the car to signify that it had activated its lock mechanism.

“Now then,” Asami said, and flipped her hair back over her shoulder, and gestured into the hallway. “Lead the way, Oh Humble One.”

Korra cocked one eyebrow, and indeed led the way, down the hall, up two flights of stairs, and then down another hall to a beaten and worn door that had a torn poster of a red panda-esque creature on it. She opened the door with a deft turn on the handle, knowing that to most people, the door would have appeared locked (the mechanism liked to get stuck, but apply upward pressure as you were turning, and it turned with ease), and swung it open with a wide gesture before stepping aside to give Asami the view.

“Welcome to Chez Ferret.” Korra said, and Mako and Bolin both waved half-heartedly from where they sat on the couch, not really paying attention just yet. “Guys, This is Asami.” Korra gestured at the taller woman, and then sighed in frustration when neither man looked up from their racing game. “Guys?”

“Oh, hey.” Mako said, turning around briefly as he passed into first place while Bolin cried out in frustration. “Make yourself at home…” The sudden recognition in Mako’s face, as he flushed, was enough to make Korra snicker with laughter. Mako paused the game then, Bolin groaning, and stood up so that he could greet his guest properly. “So, uh, I’m Mako.” He said, a bit awkwardly, and extended his hand stiffly.

Asami shook it firmly, and Mako’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head for some reason.

“Korra, may I speak with you for a moment?” Mako asked, looking directly at Korra, who’s grin widened ever so slightly.

“Of course.” The two stepped into the hall shutting the door, leaving Bolin and Asami alone together in the apartment.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were friends with Asami _Sato_?”

“Why does that matter?” Korra asked, crossing her arms, jutting her chin out in defiance of his irritation, “And how do you know she’s Asami Sato anyway?”

“Because I _worked_ for her.” Mako said, exasperated, “She visits the factory every week, **everyone** knows who she is.”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, you’re not exactly from around here. Ms Southern Water Tribe. She’s super famous, and you brought her _here_.”

“What’s wrong with here? You guys have a great apartment.”

“Korra…” He pinched the bridge of his nose, tucking his chin into his chest like he was trying to pierce his clothes with how pointed it was. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I’m going to the movies with all _three_ of my friends. Who will get along and enjoy the movie and then we will all go out for dinner, like friends do.”

“This is ridiculous.” Mako muttered, and opened the door to the apartment.

When Korra looked inside, Asami and Bolin were seated on the sofa, Bolin now where Mako had been sitting, and Asami beside him. The two were hunched over their game controllers, Bolin almost sobbing with frustration. Korra leaned between the two of them, and noted that Asami’s car, which had previously been Bolin’s, was now in first place, a significant improvement over fifth. Bolin, meanwhile, had managed to lose Mako’s lead and was now in third.

“Come on! This is so unfair.”

“Well, that’s the way it goes.” Asami said, smiling smugly as she crossed the finish line and finished the race. “The turns on this car are not nearly as tight as it can make on a real track though.”

Bolin sighed, but quickly regained himself, now curious. 

“Yeah? I’ve only ever seen the game, so I have no idea.”

“Oh, yeah. If timed just right, I’ve seen that car do amazing things.” Asami turned and threw an arm over the back of the sofa, and looked like she was going to explain more, but then Bolin jumped in again.

“Awesome. Do you have one? Korra said you’re a big-shot Engineer over at F-I.”

“Uh… no, I don’t own the S-Forty.” Korra noted that Asami was starting to look uncomfortable, but once again, Bolin’s motor-mouth was too fast for her.

“So what do you drive then?”

“Oh, nothing special.” Asami said, shrugging. Korra was sure that once again, there was more to that statement.

“Ok, Bolin, we need to get going anyway. You can let Asami have time to think now.” Mako finally was able to chime in, putting a hand over his brother’s mouth. After a moment of struggling, Bolin managed to pull away, waving his older brother off.  
____

The group left the apartment, and Mako and Bolin didn’t even bother to lock the door. The theater was only a couple of blocks away, and so they walked there companionably, with Bolin making idle conversation with Asami.

“No, seriously, was the lunar lander thing a joke, or…?”

“You’ll just have to wait until next year’s keynote and find out with everyone else.”

“Oh come on!” he pleaded, and Asami laughed.

Korra smiled to herself, pleased that at least two of her friends were getting along. Mako, beside her, was still looking brooding. That was really par for the this particular course, and she had no doubt that would likely never change. It was both something she adored and hated about him. She supposed that was probably why their relationship hadn’t worked: because that vital facet of their personality had clashed.

Upon arrival to the movie theater, they all bought their tickets to the matinee showing, and then went into the lobby.

“Hey Mako, can we get some popcorn?” Bolin inquired, looking at the price board.

“I don’t know bro, it’s six yuans for a small.” he replied, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “And we’re going out to dinner right after this, so we really shouldn’t.”

Korra rubbed the back of her neck, the fifty yuans she had brought tonight burning a hole in her pocket. Mako hated when people paid for things for him, preferring to suffer in silence, she’d known that for some time now. But half the fun was eating popcorn together. She was just about to suggest all chipping in on a jumbo-sized container when Asami chimed in.

“Hey guys, why don’t we all just chip in on the jumbo-sized? It’s less expensive that way, and by the looks of that tub, it should be plenty for all of us.”

Bolin’s eyes lit up spectacularly, and Mako considered for a moment before nodding and counting out a couple of bills for their share. Korra did likewise, and then Asami was off.

When she returned, she had the popcorn in hand, slathered with extra butter. Korra salivated a little, and then held back a sigh, that was going to be a nightmare to work off later, but it would probably be worth it. Oh yes. So very worth it.

Inside the theater they were able to find seats, pretty close to the center. Bolin insisted that they sit not at the far back, but several rows in front. Apparently something about the sound-mixing was better when seated two-thirds of the way in. Not that Korra really cared that much. She found herself seated on the end of their group, with Asami to her right. On the other end was Mako

The movie itself was fairly mundane, with the plot being something about a super-soldier during the Hundred Years War who almost saved the day himself. But it was towards the end of the film that Korra found herself gripping the armrests with white-knuckle intensity. The main character’s plane was crashing. Losing altitude. Adjust wing-flaps. Need to gain altitude. Fuel is igniting. Punch out. You have to punch out. NOW.

Korra excused herself as quietly as she could, not bothering to apologize to the people she moved past. Once she got out of the theater itself, she breathed easier, not realizing she had been holding her breath before.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been standing outside the theater when she noticed someone standing next to her, and then Asami’s face swam into view as her breathing slowed.

“Hey, are you alright?” Asami asked, and Korra almost barked a laugh. “You ran out of the theater like the movie was chasing you.”

“Sorry.” Korra said lamely, dropping her gaze and shuffling awkwardly, “You should head back in or you’ll miss the end. I’ll be fine.”

“It’s not a very good movie anyway, I think I’d rather wait out here with you, if that’s ok.”

Korra thought for a moment, her mind racing. But eventually it settled on the idea that having someone around was better than not. Yeah. That was better.

“Yeah, that’s ok.”

Korra pressed her back against the wall, and jolted every time the bass in the theater was too loud, but Asami never mentioned anything about that, instead, she put an arm around Korra’s shoulder. No other pressure was added, just the weight of Asami’s arm resting on her. It was something to focus on other than noise anyway. Asami continued to make light conversation, asking what the dinner plans were.

“There’s a Water Tribe place not far from here that makes the best seaweed noodles in town, and they’re cheap.”

“Best in town huh? That’s a tough claim.” Asami said idly.

“Ok, let me rephrase: best not five-star noodles in town.” Korra said, a bit more snappishly than she had intended.

“I was just joking. Honest. I’ve just eaten at a lot of noodle places that make that claim.” Asami clarified. Korra didn’t respond right away, and then a few moments later, the sound of the main title could be heard through the wall. “Sounds like the movie’s ended.”

“Yeah, I guess it has.” She sighed, and watched as the rest of the audience filed out of the theater, “Thanks for keeping me company.”

“That’s what friends do.” Asami said simply. She gave Korra’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, and then moved her arm away as Bolin and Mako exited the theater.

“There you two are. I was getting worried.” Mako said, his eyebrows rising slightly in relief.

“Sorry, I had to step out.” Korra said, shrugging.

Bolin narrowed his eyes for a moment, then raised a finger like he was going to say something, but a firm hand on his shoulder from Mako quickly ended that.

“You ok?” Mako asked. Korra shuffled her feet for a moment, unsure herself, and then nodded.

“I’m ok. Can we get dinner now?”  
____

The restaurant was crowded, being Saturday, and Korra noted Asami’s expression of bemused interested as they were seated before another group that had arrived before them.

“Mako and Bolin, and I get dinner here a lot.” Korra explained as they sat down, “First name basis with the owner.”

“Ah, I see.” Asami said, not commenting on it further, and picking up a menu.

“You should get special number six, it’s just like my mom makes.” Korra offered, not even bothering to look at the menu in front of herself.

“No, She should get dinner platter number nine.” Bolin said, slapping the table for effect. “Nothing beats Shrimp over Seaweed noodles.”

Korra shook her head, and turned to Asami, who was seated next to her on one side of the booth.

“Don’t listen to his heresay.”

“They’re both wrong anyway.” Mako added, a smile almost breaking his serious expression. “The correct answer is to get the ‘Big Platter’ Then bring it home for leftovers.”

“My brother has no appreciation for enjoying things.” Bolin said, feigning betrayal. “So pragmatic, yet _at what cost_?”

“His funny bone, probably.” Asami said quickly, and Korra snorted back laughter while trying to take a sip of her water. Bolin slapped the table several more times, laughing loud enough that several tables were starting to look at them, and Mako’s face had gone bright red with embarrassment.

“That is exactly right!” Bolin said as he fanned himself with a hand, then snickered again.

After a few more moments, the waiter arrived.

“Well, I guess you guys all pretty much know what you’re getting, right?” She said, and grabbed a pen from her apron pocket to begin. “Korra’s getting special number six, Mako is getting Big Platter and will need a box to wrap it up for later, and growing boy Bolin is getting dinner platter nine.” She pointed at each of the named parties, who nodded in turn. But when she got to Asami, she paused and held out her hand for the executive to shake.

“I’m Asami.” She said, the same friendly tight-lipped smile that Korra had first seen directed at herself gracing her pale face. “I’m guessing you know this group pretty well?”

“Yep. If you need to escape, just let me know.” The girl said brightly, “I”m Opal.”

“Mmhmm.” Bolin hummed, resting his head on his hand, a dopey smile on his face. Mako rolled his eyes.

“So, Asami, what’ll it be?”

“Well, Korra says you guys have the best Seaweed noodles in the city, so I need to put that claim to the test, I’ll also get special number six.”

“Oh, I think we’re going to pass that test with flying colors.” Opal said, writing it down on her pad. “Anything to drink tonight, or just water?”

“Water for me.” Mako said.

“And me.” Chimed in Korra,

“Can I get a soda?” Bolin asked, making a puppy-dog face at his brother. When Mako nodded grudgingly, he asked for a root beer.

“And Asami?”

“Water is fine, thank you.”

After the waitress left with their order, Korra snickered at Bolin.

“When are you going to ask her out?” She asked, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms.  
“Uh... I have no idea what you’re referring to.” Bolin said, obviously deflecting.

“Bolin, I just met you today, and even I can tell you’re head over heels. Just ask her.” Asami said, reaching over and patting his arm. 

“Please. So I don’t have to hear more about your pining.” Mako said gruffly, looking away.

“Yeah, if you’re into her, then ask. Worst thing that happens is she says no.” Korra said.

Bolin pointed a look at her that Korra was sure was supposed to mean something, but wasn’t sure what.

The rest of the meal passed with the group of friends talking, Mako and Bolin filled Korra and Asami in as to the end of the movie.

“Glad I left.” Asami said, “Sounds like the ending was a downer.”

“No, It was actually really cool, and it opened the door to the larger series they’re trying to do.” Bolin said, going starry-eyed. “I’d love to be a part of a project like that.”

“That would be pretty fantastic.” Korra agreed, taking another slurp of her soup.

“Ok, Korra, you were right.” Asami said, wiping her mouth with the napkin. “These are probably the best noodles I’ve ever had.”

“You haven’t had my mom’s, but she’s not in Republic City, so these will do.” She took another spoonful for good measure, sighing happily

Finally, food was depleted, except for Mako’s which he dutifully boxed up in preparation for leftovers.

Opal swung by at some point to drop off the check, handing it to Mako, and playfully ignoring Bolin’s grabs for the piece of paper.

“Have a great night guys!” Opal said, leaving them to pay the check in peace.

Asami insisted on paying for the tip, Korra wasn’t particularly surprised. But Mako’s furrowed brow and tight-lipped “Fine.” did surprise her. He usually didn’t quibble over these sorts of things. But Asami didn’t seem to notice, and added her share of the check and a few extra bills for good measure underneath the already collected sun. Finally, Korra added in her share.

Once that was settled, the four finally started walking back towards the apartment. 

The walk back was peppered here and there with conversation, but by this point the four had mostly fallen into the easy silence that a good night often ended in, when no one could think of anything new to add, but nothing was awkward. Korra enjoyed these moments more than most would expect. Quiet peace with friends was something she hadn’t had a lot of time getting used to, after all.

When they arrived back at the building, Asami declined to go back inside, assuring the group that she probably had about a million missed calls.

Korra also decided it was time to head home, and waved at the boys before starting to walk away.

“Hey, Korra, want a ride home?” Asami asked before she’d gotten too far.

She thought about it. The walk would help her legs, which were feeling like they needed to get stretched out. But the car ride would certainly be faster… not to mention being an awesome car in and of itself.

“Sure!” She said, and jogged over slowly. Asami opened the door for her, and once the driver made sure Korra was buckled in and had the address, Asami hit the gas.

The car was like nothing Korra had ever been in in her life, except her plane. But even this was different. The bumps of the road, the roar of this engine, felt like a wild animal more than the weapons she remembered. 

“So, what model is this?” Korra asked when they stopped at a light and her heart beat slowed down from the rush of adrenaline.

“Oh? I made this car. I guess it’d be the A-One.”

“Really? That’s so cool!” Korra said, eyes widening in admiration, “Like… you designed it, or…”

“Well, yes. But I also machined the parts and assembled it myself.”

“Wow.” Korra suddenly felt awkward, she was in a pair of ripped jeans and a worn out tank-top, inside a one-of-a-kind car with leather seats that probably were worth more than she was.

“Getting the muffler on was a nightmare.” Asami said, smiling, and then launched into some kind of spiel that made no sense to Korra whatsoever, but Asami clearly enjoyed explaining it to her, so she nodded along and tried to piece together what she could. Mounting was too thin? Re-made it three times. Eventually scrapped it and re-designed the whole thing.

Asami was still talking about RPMs and tire pressure when they pulled up in front of Tenzin’s house. Korra hopped out of the car and gently shut the door behind her, almost afraid to leave a mark on it.

Asami leaned over from her seat, looking up at the Water Tribe woman she had just driven home.

“Hey Korra?”

“Yeah?” She responded, leaning down to better see Asami through the window.

“Thank you for inviting me to hang out with you guys tonight. It was a lot of fun.”

“Any time.” Korra said, suddenly beaming. She reached back in through the car and patted Asami’s shoulder. “Next time, you get to pick the activity.”

Asami quirked an eyebrow at that.

“Sounds like a plan. See you later!”

“Later.” Korra agreed, and waved good bye as Asami drove away, just short of burning out her tires as she did so. The EMT in her frowned, but the rest of her shook her head with amusement before going inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks to my beta-reader: buddha1800 for making sure any of this makes sense. 
> 
> This one took longer than usual because life, but it's almost 1000 words longer than normal, so there's that. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Act 1, Scene 5 - Drive

Korra was bored. So bored. So very, very bored.

Currently, Korra was throwing a ball for Naga, the large, white, fluffy creature excitedly chasing the ball across Tenzin’s backyard. Naga would chase the ball, capture the blue item in her mouth, then make a full lap around the yard before coming back to Korra to throw it again. Throw. Catch. Run. Repeat.

Her dog had an almost unlimited supply of energy on days like this, when the weather was cool and the sun was bright. If this were a couple of years prior, she’d have been suited up and about to get in her cockpit.

“Not anymore though.” She muttered, and then absently rubbed Naga’s ears as she came back with the ball again. One more throw.

An hour later, and she was still throwing the ball.

That was how Jinora found her after school.

“Hi Korra.”

“Hey Jinora.” She replied, and this time when Naga came back, she ran straight into the fourteen-year-old’s waiting arms, getting her covered in dog hair. Jinora didn’t seem to mind though, and took the ball from her, dangling it above Naga’s head and letting her jump to get it a couple of times before sending it across the yard.

“How come you’re still here anyway? Don’t you usually pull a double on Wednesdays?” Jinora asked, throwing the ball for all her might when Naga returned with it.

“Yeah, usually. But Bolin’s filming his scene for the movie today, so they shuffled the schedule around, which fortunately let me luck out and get a day off.”

“Cool.”

Korra felt like there was something Jinora wanted to talk about, but wasn’t quite brave enough to broach the topic just yet. She kept looking over at Korra, then looking away in a hurry.

“What’s on your mind?”

Jinora huffed a breath and threw the ball for Naga, then sat down on the back step of the house. Korra followed suit.

“So… I kind of have a date Friday night.” She began, looking sheepish.

“That’s awesome!” Korra said, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze. “My little monk, all grown up.”

“That’s just it though, I don’t think my dad would approve… Kai’s not exactly spiritual.”

The name rang a bell in Korra’s head, and she thought that maybe she had met Kai once or twice at school events over the past couple of years. If her memory served, he was quickly becoming the ‘bad boy’ type. No, Tenzin would probably not approve. But if her memory was still thinking of the right person, then Kai was a sweet kid who’d had it pretty rough for a while, and who meant well.

“Well, I think that your dad is going to have to come to realize that you’re not a defenseless baby anymore.” Korra said, and then smirked as she added, “That was last week.”

“Hey!” Jinora said, and pushed Korra away with a forced pout.

“So, where is this ‘Kai’ person taking you?”

“Oh… actually… I’m taking him…”

“Oh really?” Korra asked, smile still on her face, “Good for you!”

It was then that Korra realized that Naga was nowhere to be found in the backyard.

“Well, crap.” She muttered, “Did Meelo leave the gate open again?” She asked, and Jinora shrugged.

“I don’t think so.”

Korra sighed, and brushed debris from her shorts.

“Wanna go help me find my polarbear of a dog and tell me about your plans for your date?”

“Sure. It involves lazer tag.”

“An excellent choice.”  
____

Naga, it turned out, was not in the yard at all. The gate was closed, and she was not in the house. Korra was wondering where she had disappeared to. Calling for Naga, who was usually very obedient, produced no response. Neither did squeaking toys or promises (lies) about forgoing a bath this month. 

Korra was starting to panic at the thought that Naga had run away, and decided it was definitely time to start checking neighboring houses. She grabbed Naga’s leash, pulled on her running shoes, and was out the door, asking Pema to not wait for her for dinner. Meelo, Ikki, and Jinora had homework that needed doing, and so Korra was on her own for now.

The neighbors on either side said that Naga had not come through their yards, and there was no sign of her on the cul de sac where Tenzin and family lived, so she headed up to the main road, hoping that Naga hadn’t been dumb enough to go chasing another car. The last time her dog had done that, she’d had to pay for the damages.

“I swear to everything that’s holy, if you ripped off another car’s bumper, I’m going to enjoy new boots this winter…”

Her phone chimed in her pocket. Asami.

“Hello?” She asked, still looking around for signs of her pet.

“Hey Korra.” Asami said, and after just a moment’s pause, “Am I catching you at a bad time.”

“Well, Naga ran away. I have no idea where she is.”

“White… fluffy… big and doofy?”

“Yes. All of those things.”

“Blue collar?”

“Yeah. Do you want to help me look for her?” 

“Nope.”

Wow. Rude.

Just then, Korra saw a familiar car roll down the road, and it came to a stop in front of her. The A-one’s window rolled down, and a familiar, huge white head poked out, panting happily.

“Naga!” Korra cried, and wrapped both her arms around her dog’s neck, hugging her close. She opened her eyes to see Asami smiling smugly at her.

“She almost ripped the bumper off my car, you know.”

“I can pay for that…”

“Please, it’s a bumper. And my welding is better than that.” Asami said, “She was near the tea shop up the street.”

“Thank you so much for bringing her home.” Korra said, squeezing the dog again through the window. And then a thought occurred to her. “But how come you were in the area? You sounded like you were going to be busy all day.”

“Well, I was. But my last meeting got cancelled, and I was hoping you wanted to hang out.”

“Sure! Let’s just get Naga home first.”

“Hop in.”

Korra did so, cramming into the car along with the hundred and twenty pound dog, and Asami. The rest of the drive took only a few moments, and Naga cheerfully hopped over the four foot high fence back into Tenzin’s yard.

“Awesome.” Korra muttered. “Tenzin is not going to be happy to find out that Naga can just up and leave.”

“Well, at least now you know. You could get a dog run for her.” Asami supplied, having exited from and now leaning against her car.

“I guess I’m going to have to.” Korra sighed, and opened the gate, Gesturing for Asami to follow. “Did you want to come in? I’m sure Pema’s cooked enough food for fifteen people, so one more shouldn’t be an issue if you wanted to stay for dinner.”

“I’d hate to impose…”

“Please, Bolin used to just randomly appear all the time for dinner. I think he could smell the mashed potatoes. Come on in, I’ll introduce you to the family.”

An expression of… something passed over Asami’s face so fast that Korra almost didn’t notice it, but then she shrugged, a small smile just cresting on her face, and Korra took her hand to lead her inside. Korra noted idly that Asami always wore gloves while she was driving, so she could only feel the soft leather against her skin. 

Once inside, Korra removed her shoes. Asami started to do the same until Naga came barreling by them, knocking her over, but Korra reached out and pulled her into her arms, steadying Asami before she could fall to the floor.

“You ok?” Korra asked, and Asami nodded, cheeks flushed slightly after the minor panic started to fade. Korra smiled an apology, and patted Asami on the arm before propping her back up so that she could finish removing her boots.

Once Asami’s boots were neatly leaned against the wall, and her gloves removed, Korra took her hand again, and again noted that they were slightly rougher than the professional-looking manicured nails would imply. She led Asami down the hall and into the kitchen, where true to form, Pema was cooking dinner. After a moment or two, the matriarch of the house seemed to notice more than one person standing in the kitchen, and turned away from the oven that she was checking, looking over Asami with a critical, but not severe, eye.

“Hi Pema, so, I’d like you to meet Asami, we met on the movie set a couple of weeks ago.” Korra explained, and let go of Asami’s hand so that she could step forward. “I know it’s really late to ask, but can she stay for dinner? She brought Naga home.”

Pema’s face lit up in a smile and she walked forward, pulling Asami into a hug without another second’s thought. Over her shoulder, Korra could see that Asami wasn’t quite sure how to handle the situation, and settled on politely hugging her back. They pulled away after a moment.

“Of course you can stay for dinner. I hope you like eggplant lasagna.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you.”

“Great. Then you can help Korra set the table, and we’ll eat.”

It turned out that Korra needed to coach Asami on how to set a table.

“Really? Not even once?” Korra whispered, and set the napkins down next to the plates.

“No, my staff always does this for me.” Asami replied, and did the same on her side of the table. followed quickly by utensils, dutifully putting them down with precision so that they were equally distant from the plates.

“Well, congratulations, Asami ‘I have servants for that’ Sato, you’ve finally learned how to to do this yourself.” Korra said, and rolled her eyes, “After what… twenty-five years of being pampered?”

“Hey, I’m only twenty-two!”

“Twenty-two years of pampering then.” Korra said, and then thought for a moment, “So you’re twenty-two, and already a COO for Future Industries?”

“Well, yeah, my dad owns the company. I’ve basically been running the engineering department since I was twelve.”

“That’s… legitimately amazing.” Korra said, and placed the final glass on table. Asami flushed some.

“Thanks, you should swing by the tower sometimes, I’ll give you a tour.”

“That’d be awesome. So many secrets to sell to Cabbage Corp!” Korra rubbed her hands together gleefully. But Asami didn’t seem to find it that funny, instead, her face was screwed up into an expression of hurt confusion for a moment. “Sorry, kidding. Bad joke.” She said, and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Pema fortunately decided to break the tension at that point, putting a hot dish full of delicious-smelling eggplant onto the table. Moments later, three children stormed into the room, with their father bringing up the rear, holding his youngest son in one arm, with a high-chair in his other hand.

Tenzin paused for a moment when he first saw Asami.

“Good evening Miss Sato.” He said, bowing his head slightly, and set the chair down so that he could secure his son into the contraption.

“Master Tenzin,” Asami said, bowing respectfully to him in turn. “I’m sorry for intruding.”

“Not at all, Pema always makes plenty, and we’d never turn away a hungry guest. Which is why Korra is still with us I think.”

“Hey!”

Asami hid her mouth behind her hand, and Korra was sure that she was snickering at her expense. Not that Korra could really blame Asami for it.

The meal passed quickly, with easy conversation. It turned out that Asami and Tenzin were passing acquaintances from when Tenzin was on the city council and therefore was invited to high-society functions.

Meelo, Ikki, and Jinora, the eldest of Tenzin’s children, quickly erupted into a chatter of questions and demands from Asami when it was mentioned that she did a lot of work with cars:

“Can you buy Daddy a new car?” - Ikki  
“Can you buy _me_ a new car?” - Meelo  
“Could I ask you to help me with my science fair project?” - Jinora

“Kids!” Pema said, drowning them out with the well-placed syllable. They all quickly returned to their food. “That was very rude.”

“Thank you Pema, but they’re fine.” Asami said graciously, wiping her mouth with a napkin after finishing her plate. “And this was delicious, thank you.”

“Of course, you should come by more often. Korra rarely brings visitors home anymore, but I still make enough for Bolin, just in case.”

“I think Mako scared him off.” Korra said, and rubbed her stomach idly, her need for food now well sated.  
____

After the table was cleared, which with the help of three children didn’t take long at all, Korra and Asami were freed from their duties. Korra couldn’t help but notice that Asami kept shooting glances at the door, like she wanted to leave immediately.

“Did you want to go somewhere?” Korra asked, and Asami nodded.

“I was hoping to bring you to the F-I Test Track. The research guys were going to be doing some performance tests today, and it’s pretty cool actually.”

“Too late for that I guess?”

“Well, too late for testing, but it’s not like I don’t have the security codes to get in.” Asami said, and in that moment, Korra swore that Asami looked exactly like an evil genius.

“Sounds awesome. Lemme just throw on some different clothes real quick.” Korra led her friend to her bedroom, a room on the first floor that was quite close to the kitchen. When the door opened, Asami found it surprisingly neat and tidy. Korra could almost hear her eyebrows lifting in surprise.

“Between living with austere Buddhists, and bootcamp, I’ve had any messy tendencies pretty thoroughly kicked out of me.” Korra commented, and rifled through her dresser for a moment, getting out a pair of jeans and a worn t-shirt that at one point had a phrase on it, now rendered almost unreadable by time.

“Make yourself at home, I’ll just be in the bathroom.”

When Korra returned, dirty clothes in hand, she found Asami looking at one of the pictures framed on her wall: it was of Korra, in a flight suit, and in front of a plane, gesturing at it like a proud parent. Korra smiled fondly at the memory.

“That was the day I got my plane. Best day of my life.”

“Looks like a CC-10 Lightningbolt Two?” Asami asked, turning away from the picture. Korra nodded and opened her drawer again, grabbing a pair of socks.

“You got it. Piece of junk. But it was my baby.” She said, putting on her socks quickly, and then standing up again. When she did, Asami heard several distinct pops from joints cracking, and Korra grunted with satisfaction. “So, Test Track?”

“Test Track.”

The ride to the track was uneventful and quiet. The dark of evening settling in as streetlights illuminated the roads. The pair made idle conversation on the way there, mostly revolving around how good Pema’s cooking was.

“So, you need to tell me the story about Bolin just showing up for food.” Asami finally insisted, and Korra laughed.

“Well, right after I moved in with Tenzin, Pema, and the kids, I made friends with Bolin and Mako. So fast forward a few months, we’d been hanging out or whatever. Bolin just appears at the front door as Pema is putting dinner on the table, and I’m not even home at this point. I think I was at a doctor’s appointment that day.

“Tenzin and Pema, being the gracious hosts that they are, invite him to dinner. Fast forward another two weeks or so, and he shows up _again_ but it’s actually pretty late at night. But it had been a big day, so we were all eating late. Of course, he gets invited to stay for dinner again. And then it happens **again** another two weeks later. But this time we’d been eating _early_ , because the kids had gotten out of school on a half day I think. I swear, it’s like he’s a dinner magnet.”

Asami was nearly howling with laughter by the end of the story, and Korra laughed along with her. It was probably the first time she’d heard her really let go and just… relax. It was nice, she decided, to be able to just tell stupid stories about her friends with someone who enjoyed them as much as she did.

“I can totally see him doing that.” Asami commented, and turned them down another street. “That is amazing.”

“It was pretty funny at the time too.” Korra said, still chuckling slightly. “My favorite part might be that the first time it happened, he got so excited over the mashed potatoes, because they were made of actual potato, not from a box. His face was like a kid during the holidays.”

“They come in boxes?” Asami asked.

“Are you serious right now?” Korra asked, a little dismayed. But the confusion on Asami’s face appeared genuine. “You’ve never had boxed mashed potatoes?”

“Not that I recall…”

“Well, honestly, you’re better off, but they do exist.”

“That is a piece of information I’ll file away for later.”

The pair got to the track only a few minutes later, Asami keyed a pin into a pad by the gate, and it parted, allowing them to drive through. The lights turned on as Asami drove the A-One down the driveway, and Korra caught a glimpse of asphalt quite a ways off, the reflective white lines shining slightly in the now night-time darkness as headlights hit them.

Instead of pulling into the parking lot, Asami pulled up into a large building off to the side, the overhead door lifting in perfect timing for Asami’s speed. Korra noted that Asami hadn’t signalled the door or pressed a button of any kind, so the door had to have opened some other way.

“Do you have a sensor in the car to let the door know you’re here?”

“Yes, actually. Took a while to get the range right though. I almost crashed into the door a couple of times.”

“Why not just put a pressure sensor on the driveway?” she asked, gesturing back the way they came as she and Asami exited the car.

“Because then it’d open to anyone who got through the gate, and I store a lot of our prototypes here.”

Once again, Korra was taken aback with just how clever Asami proved herself to be. And then the lights turned on. 

Rows upon rows of cars were illuminated before her. Korra recognized a lot of these, they were similar to the models she saw on the road every day while on shift. But some of them were wild, and some were ancient. And one… one of them was clearly special. It was off on its own, and was painted the color of blood. It gleamed with an intensity, with a grille and headlights that looked like it was glowering at them.

It Asami’s car was a beast, this car was a monster. In the best possible way. And she _really_ wanted to be able to drive it.

“That’s the H-Fifty, my dad’s latest concept” Asami said, coming to stand alongside Korra, and smiling at her wonder. “Want to take it for a spin?”

“Oh man, I’d live to, but uh…”

“But what?”

“I don’t have a driver’s license.”

“Are you being serious right now?” Asami asked, in clear parallel with Korra’s question from earlier. “You can fly a plane, but not a car?”

“Hey! To be fair, there are more _snow_ than _Sato_ mobiles in the Southern Water Tribe. I can drive those just fine. And then when I moved in with Tenzin, I was really busy all the time with doctor’s visits and stuff, so I never had time, and walking or biking is better for you…” By this point, Korra was very aware that she was rambling, and Asami’s eyebrow looked like it was about to disappear into her hairline. Right up until she flipped her hair. And then Korra promptly shut up. How did she _do_ that?

“I think we’re going to have to fix that.” Asami said, and started off down one of the rows of vehicles. Korra followed. Asami stopped in front of a smaller, gentler looking car, and got into the driver’s seat. Korra got into the passenger seat as Asami turned the engine over, after getting to the starting line on the track, Asami put the car into park. “Alright, switch.”

Korra got out of the car, hoping that she looked more confident than she felt. This would be the absolute first time Korra had been behind the wheel of a car, and after seeing first hand on more than one occasion just how dangerous those things could be, she wasn’t sure it was a good idea to be in control of one. But she settled down, and crossed in front of the car, offering a nervous smile to Asami as they passed each other.

Once behind the wheel, Korra buckled her seatbelt, and gripped the wheel tightly while she waited for Asami to do the same. The car hummed gently as it idled.

“Ok, so we’re going to take this slow. Do you know where the blinker is?”

“Uh… next to the lights?”

“Well, you’re not wrong…” 

After a brief explanation for where the controls were located, Asami instructed Korra on how to properly operate the clutch, the brake, and the manual shift.

“Why couldn’t you just put me in an automatic transmission?”

“Because once you learn how to drive stick, you’ll also be able to drive an automatic, and then you’ll be able to drive anything.” Asami explained. Curse her for being logical, “And besides, when you get around to buying a car, manual transmissions are less expensive.”

The first few attempts Korra made at accelerating were nothing short of tragic. She stalled the car twice, lurched forward with such force that she nearly hit her head on the wheel, and managed once to put the car in reverse. Somehow.

But finally, _finally_ she was able to get the car moving forward, and without lurching. Just a nice, slow, easy acceleration.

“Hey! I did it!”

“Yeah you did!” Asami said excitedly. “Now let’s see if you can do a lap around the track!”

Some time later, Korra pulled the vehicle back into the garage, going slowly, because there was a fortune worth of cars in here, and no amount of apology would make up for hurting them. She shot a quick glance at Asami, and while the taller girl appeared calm, there was a definite tension in her arms, and Korra resolved to not make her regret this decision. 

So, Korra gingerly pulled back into the spot. Not as straight as the car had been when they left, but it was there, and she hadn’t hit any of the other vehicles on the way in, so she called it a victory.

Once parked, Korra killed the ignition and leaned back in her seat, grinning wildly. “This was awesome.” She remarked. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. We’ll have to get you driving again soon, and then at some point get you on an actual road.”

The two got out of the car, and Korra finally checked the time. It was almost midnight. Oh man.

Asami drove Korra home after that, going a little faster than was strictly required, but at this point, Korra was sure that was just how Asami drove: fast, and with the confidence of a formula-one racecar driver.

“Thanks again Asami, I hope we can do that again soon.”

“Me too. Goodnight Korra.”

“Night!”

Korra offered a small wave and walked towards the house, and noted that Asami waited until she was in the door before pulling away. How thoughtful.

As she settled down to sleep, Korra shot a glance over at the picture of her standing in front of her plane, and smiled, the corners of her mouth pulling upwards in their typically lopsided fashion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse for this taking so long. But thank you all for being patient with me. 
> 
> As always, my never-ending gratitude to my beta-reader: buddha1800 
> 
> Oh, and the thing with a friend showing up at random hours but somehow always at dinner time definitely is a true story. A friend of mine did it to my family and I. It's a favorite story of mine.
> 
> And of course: #LoveWon.


	6. Act 2, Scene 1: Contract

“Korra!” Bolin’s shouting rang in her ear, and she jerked the phone away for a moment. “Korra, Korra, KorraKorraKorra!”

“What?” She finally snapped. She heard the deep breath he inhaled, so whatever this was about, it was definitely exciting.

“The movie’s cancelled!”

“Oh my… Bolin, I’m sorry…” She started, but he cut her off.

“No don’t be! This is the greatest thing that’s _ever_ happened to me!”

“Are you drunk?”

 

“No, Korra, I’m going to be a movie star! I’ll explain later.” 

She stared at her phone after he hung up and got a text message several minutes later telling her to meet at his place.  
____

“Wait… Nuktuk?”

“Yeah!”

“Varrick is re-booting _Nuktuk_?” Korra repeated in slight shock. Nuktuk, the Southern Water Tribe pulp-comic hero from the 20’s.

“Yeah!” Bolin repeated, eyes almost bugging out of his head.

“And he’s cast you as the lead role?”

“ **Yes**!” He said, grinning from ear to ear in a way Korra had never seen before. “Ginger and I were filming, right, and she was swooning, because that’s all the character does, it’s a medical condition or something… Anyway, one of the lights shakes itself loose, and it was going to fall right on top of her. But I pulled her out of the way before she could be a cinnamon pancake. And Varrick was so impressed that he got one of his crazy ideas. So he fired Tahno, and then cancelled the whole production… He’ll be sending me a contract for Nuktuk: Hero of the South next week. But you can’t tell anybody.”

Korra nodded along, pretty certain that she had caught all of what Bolin had said. Given how fast her friend was talking, she was surprised he had gotten it all out in one breath. After a few dawning seconds of realization, it actually hit her: this was the big break Bolin had been looking for for months. He’d finally done it. He was going to star in his own film.

She launched herself up from their sofa to where Bolin had been pacing, and squeezed her friend around the middle, picking him up bodily and laughing with joy.  
“You did it!” She cried.

“I did it!” He wheezed back and patted her arm, with some urgency, to put him down. When she did so, she hugged him again around the shoulders, and this time he spun her around; both of them laughing loudly.

“So, when do you start shooting?” She asked once they parted from the mutual embrace.

“Varrick says asap. I’m sure he’s already looking for investors and a producer. As soon as that stuff is good, then he’ll need set designers, prop designs, a costume department, hair and makeup, an effects studio… He apparently wants to do a ton with special effects.”

“This is going to be so cool!” Korra said, reaching into the refrigerator for a bottle of water. She flopped down onto the couch and just let the news hit her. Her best friend was going to be an action star. Which was awesome. But then he’d probably also have to quit being an ambulance driver… which would mean Korra was going to get a new partner. Well, she supposed it was a good thing that Asami was teaching her to drive, so that she could take a turn behind the wheel.

“Earth to Korra?” Bolin asked, and Korra blinked out of her thoughts. “You looked pretty intensely zoned out. You ok?”

“I’m great!” She said, forcing a smile on her face. Of course she was happy for Bolin. “I’m just going to miss you…”

Suddenly, Bolin was next to her on the couch, an arm around her shoulders, and that big smile on his face.

“You’re not allowed to miss me. I’m still here. Just… living the dream.”  
____

"Take us back through the garage. We're going out. You're ready for a real road."

"Uh... don't I need a permit?"

"Korra! We've been doing this for two weeks and you still don't have your permit?"

"I've been busy!" She protested. "And the DMV is on the other side of the city."

Asami pulled out her cell phone, and jabbed at it in aggravation. Korra cringed inwardly a bit at her tone when the other end picked up.

"Lee? Hi, can you please reschedule my meeting with Hiroshi for a later time. Something came up that I have to take care of in the morning... Make it a lunch meeting... yes... just make something up. I owe you one... Good night!"

She hung up the phone and sighed. 

"Permit test. Tomorrow morning. No excuses."

"I'm sorry, you really didn't have to do that."

"Someone has to get you there, and I prefer lunch with my dad to breakfast anyway."

"Ok, you _really_ didn't have to reschedule seeing your dad for me." 

"He does it to me all the time. Turnabout is fair play."

"If you're sure..."

"It's already done. So, stop the car. We're going out." And suddenly the fire was gone, replaced by brightness and excitement, like Asami had never been aggravated with her. How did she do that? Was that an executive thing?

"Where?" 

"It's It's a surprise."  
____

They arrived at the sports center, and Korra gaped at the banners that advertised the martial arts competition that night. It was a world-famous qualifier, and the best fighters in the United Republic were going to be there.

The two found their seats quickly, talking idly about how Asami was able to get seats.

"This is so cool! I won the SWT qualifier a few years ago, but never got the chance to go to Worlds."

"What happened?" Asami asked, turning in her seat so she could more easily look at Korra. 

"Oh, well, that was when the Water Tribe Civil War broke out. That's when I enlisted into the air force." 

Korra said it casually, like there was nothing unusual about being involved in the biggest conflict since the Hundred Years War. But inside, her stomach had tied itself into knots while she watched the fighters squaring up and forced herself to keep a straight face.

"I should have realized. I'm sorry if it's something you'd rather not think about."

Without even turning to actually see Asami’s expression, Korra could tell the exact look on her face. She looked like she was afraid Korra was going to have an episode again. It was spelled out clearly in the soft tone. 

She hesitated before turning to actually look over and was surprised to see that wasn’t the look at all. It wasn’t the pity and hesitation that she had always been met with. No, this was actual sympathy, care. Korra’s tongue felt thick in her mouth as she tried to to respond.

"It's fine. I made it out of that one mostly ok." She offered a lopsided smirk.

"Oh, well, ok then."

"I mean, my cousins are way better Chieftains than my uncle was."

"You're related to Chief Eska and Chief Desna?"

"Oh, yeah. They're super weird and I don't expect to get invited to a family reunion any time soon."

"So you’re Chief Tonraq’s daughter?"

Korra nearly shoved her whole hand in her mouth. She hated when people found out about this. Sometimes she had a really big mouth. But it was too late to back down now.

"Yeah, Chief Tonraq is my dad..."

Asami stared at her for just a moment, then turned back in her chair to face front as the first two fighters came into the ring. They both dressed in the traditional green of the Earth Kingdom.  
____

"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted." Asami said, quieter now that they were in the car and not having to shout over the crowd. The deep shadows inside the car highlighted the contours of Asami's face and made her look as exhausted as she felt. Korra was sure she looked similarly tired, and suddenly suppressed a yawn.

"Yeah, I could probably sleep for days right now. Do you want to just crash at my place so you don’t have to drive all the way home tonight?"

Asami nodded tiredly, and covered her mouth when a small yawn forced it's way into the air.

“Only if you think it won’t be a problem.”

"No problem at all.” Korra said, and leaned her head back against the pillowed rest. She was just about asleep by the time they reached Tenzin and Pema’s house. She could feel the car pull to a stop from behind closed eyelids and then felt a gentle nudge to her shoulder.

“Come on sleepy-head.”

“Mmmk…” Korra muttered, and unbuckled her seatbelt. She opened the door to the house, Tenzin and Pema never locked the front door. They both trudged inside, Korra taking the lead. She opened the door to her room for Asami and motioned for her to go inside before grabbing the extra blanket that had been folded on the foot of the bed.

“I’ll take the couch.” she whispered, and turned around more sharply than she had expected, almost falling over with how tired she was. Fortunately Asami was there to keep her steady with arms wrapped around her shoulders.

“I’m not sure you can make it that far.” Asami whispered back, a hint of a laugh coloring her words. Korra allowed herself to be guided to the bed and sat heavily on top of the mattress before idly sliding her socks off. She was about to remove her shirt when her sleepy brain reminded her of 2 things: Asami needed pajamas and she was standing right there.

But her exhausted mind stopped caring about modesty several seconds ago. So off came the shirt anyway. But Asami still needed pajamas. Probably.

She got up again, using momentum to stumble forward to her dresser The drawer grudgingly opened for her on the second tug. The sound of wood scraping was almost deafening to her ears, and she hoped that she hadn’t woken Ikki and Jinora in the next room. Hurriedly, she fished out two pairs of pajama pants and two t-shirts, and tossed one set in Asami’s direction. She didn’t bother closing the drawer.

Asami, flushed almost as red as her lipstick, and didn’t catch either of the items tossed her her because she had been too busy looking at the wall on the other side of the room. The motion of the falling clothes snapped her out of her state, and she scrambled to pick up the things offered to her.

Korra stifled a chuckle at Asami's expense and put her shirt on over her head, smoothing it out over her torso. She could feel the rise and fall of her abdominal muscles beneath her own fingers, not as defined as they once were, but still there.

Korra fumbled around under her shirt, and sighed with the simple delight of finally getting out of her bra after a long day. When she looked up, Asami was in a similar state to how Korra had been just moments ago.

Yep. Korra had been right. Asami's favorite color was definitely red, if that bra was anything to go by. She idly traced the lines of Asami's torso with her eyes, noting that the time Asami spent in the gym and in her garage paid off. Though she usually wore long sleeves, Korra could easily see the lithe definition of muscles in Asami’s arms built through use in addition to aesthetics. 

The shirt that Korra had thrown in Asami’s direction, once she pulled it over her head, was clearly too short. On Korra, it hit at just above where her jeans sat on her hips. For Asami though, much of her midriff was exposed.

A small voice in the back of Korra's mind made the executive decision that she was too tired to get a longer one for her.

"Why are you so tiny?" Asami whispered as she tugged at the hem.

"Why are you so tall?" Korra retorted, and stuck her tongue out, then trudged her way back to the bed, her feet dragging across the floor like a very tired zombie.

Asami offered no answer to the rhetorical question, and instead left the room to change into the shorts Korra had given her. While her host flopped down onto the bed.

Korra was asleep in seconds.  
____

She woke up feeling warmer than usual, and with lots of hair in her face that smelled like green tea. Lifting her head slowly, not wanting to accidentally pull on Asami’s hair. She pulled her arm that had draped itself over her friend's waist back to her side of the bed, and then spared a glance at the clock. 

Six am. She had slept in. With a breathy sigh, Korra got out of bed, unsure when she had gotten under the covers to begin with, and made her way to the kitchen.

Tenzin was there at the table, along with Naga, who was eating happily from her bowl.

"Naga was quite distressed this morning when your alarm didn't go off."

"Yeah, I'm sorry Tenzin, got back really late last night and I forgot to set the alarm." She paused when Tenzin lifted a hand up, palm facing out.

"This is not a lecture. This is just me telling you that she's already had her walk this morning."

"Thank you, Tenzin. I really appreciate it. Sorry if she woke you."

"She was fine. But she seemed very perturbed that your door was closed. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine... like I said, we got back late."

"We?"

Korra felt heat rise to her cheeks, though she wasn't sure why. It's not like there was anything weird about having a friend sleep over, right? But they were in their twenties...

"Yeah, Asami and I went to the Republic City World Martial Arts Qualifier, it got out late, so she crashed here with me. She's going to take me to get my driver's permit this morning."

“Ah, I see.” Tenzin said, nodding sagely. “Well, you should probably wake her shortly, so that she can go home and change.”

“Yeah, good call.” She nodded, and leaned against the counter, picking up the steaming cup of tea that Tenzin had set out for her. It smelled like jasmine, honey, and some other flavor that she could not place immediately. She sipped deeply, letting the warm tea wash over her. Yes, Tenzin’s tea making skills were almost magical.  
____

The permit test took longer than Korra had anticipated, but...

"I passed!" Korra loudly announced, and held aloft the paper slip that declared she was not a danger to society. 

"As if there were any doubt." Asami replied, and swept up her friend into a celebratory hug.

"Thank you for all of this." Korra said before pulling back from the embrace, "I couldn't have done this without you."

"Don't thank me yet. You're driving me to work, since I've had to cart you around for weeks."

"But what about when we get there?"

Asami shrugged. 

“I’ll figure something out.”  
____

"So, how many rounds does this make?" Korra asked from her position on the sofa, while Bolin and Asami both sat on the floor of the apartment, wearing twin expressions of concentration.

"Round thirty-five." Asami stated flatly as her on-screen avatar fired off a short burst destroying a pixelated enemy with ease. "We're doing better than we usually do."

"Yeah, because you're not also on a conference call." Bolin said as he fired his own weapon. "Or dictating presentations to your servant."

"He's my intern. Not a servant. And he’s terrible at this game."

"Sorry, I meant lackey."

"Closer, I suppose."

Korra continued to watch the pair decimate the enemies on screen. Something about zombies and candy? Korra had never accumulated a talent for video games. She much preferred actually acting herself, rather than watching a little image do it for her.

"Don't you guys still have like forty pages of legal-speak to decipher?" She finally questioned, when a "STAGE CLEAR" message flashed on the screen. 

"But... zombies!" Korra rolled her eyes at Bolin’s pleading.

"Do you want to be a movie star or not?"

"Fine." Bolin relented and saved the game. "Same time next week?" He asked Asami, who was levering herself to her feet so that she could sit at the table. 

"Absolutely. I want to see if we can hit stage fifty." She settled into her seat and started flipping through the contract again.

"Do you have your screen actor's union card?"

"Yeah. I had to get one for a few minor commercial roles a couple years ago."

"Good. Then you're entitled to higher compensation. This contract assumes you're not unionized yet."

Korra watched as the two went over the contract. Asami would occasionally hum at something, or make a note. 

She read through it remarkably quickly. And the forty-plus pages swiftly became twenty.

"What are your feelings on nude scenes?" She asked, turning a page on the contract.

"Uh... I look good with a shirt off, but do I really need to be naked in a movie?"

"Then you should contest this clause. It says you are willing to be nude... and... oh my. I think this page was copied from a _very_ different contract." Asami took a pen and put a large X through the text on that page, and the next.

Korra watched the color rise in Asami's pale cheeks and started to snicker. An X was drawn through this page as well, and remarkably, through about half of a third page. By this time, Asami's face was almost as red as the bra Korra had seen the other night. Well, at least she knew how to color coordinate.

"I'm not entirely clear on what some of these items are, but I guess that's what the Internet is for." Asami mentioned and began to read through the rest of the document. The flush quickly fading from her cheeks. 

Korra grabbed one of the discarded pages, and read through the items listed there. She felt heat flush into her own cheeks. What kind of movie was this supposed to be, anyway?

Finally, Asami seemed satisfied by the end product. 

“Ok, so we’re adding in additional revenue from publicity appearances, removing some of the more… questionable things, removing the non-liability clause for personal injury, because he’s insured. He has to be. And if he’s not, he will be… got you higher pay, and a higher residual payout. I think you’re in good shape.”

“Asami, you are my absolute _hero_!” Bolin said and dragged her into a fierce hug. “I don't know what I would have done without you.”

“Porn, apparently.” Korra chimed in, and the three shared a brief moment of laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's ALIVE! ALIVE I SAY!
> 
> I should have posted this on Halloween. That would have made the above comment way more fitting. I'm back. Ish. I guess this is the official notice that while this fic _is_ ongoing, its not going to be updating on a regular basis... Between work, several tabletop games, a larp that I'm way too invested in, and general errands and such, my time is basically tapped right now.
> 
> Also, as a note for non-American readers: DMV stands for Department of Motor Vehicles. It's hell on earth. You get there, wait in line to get a number, then wait forever to get called. One of the "perks" of being an adult is dealing with this horrible place.
> 
> As always, a big shoutout to my beta-reader Buddha1800, who puts up with my flakiness with grace and understanding and patience befitting his namesake.


End file.
